Friday, October 24, 2008

Dion Was More Popular in Quebec Than Paul Martin

in the 2006 election, the Martin Liberals picked up 10 seats. Today, Dion's Liberals picked up a 14th.

update: My mistake. Martin had 13. 10 male (the number I used) and 3 female (the number I didn't see).

10 comments:

Top Can said...

All right! Let's hope that we keep Vancouver South, Keith Martin's riding (whose name escapes me at the moment), and Brampton West.

And it would be nice to somehow overturn Kitchener-Waterloo as well. Not for Telegdi's sake, but some friends of mine work for him and it'd be a shame if they were out of a job.

James Curran said...

Andrew Kania in BW will keep his seat.

Top Can said...

Hope so. By the way breaking news:

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081024/Dosanjh_election_081024/20081024?hub=TopStories

And by 22 votes. This is getting ridiculously close for anybody.

Anthony said...

youre right about gaining more

but Martin elected 13, not 10

James Curran said...

You're right buddy. 10 male, 3 female. I only saw the ten. My apologies.

Deb Prothero said...

it's okay, Jim, you were magnanimous enough in your apology for us to overlook the fact that overlooked three women :-)

nonetheless, your headline still holds. For a man who was projected to be hated an despised by the Quebec voter, Stephane Dion did well.

burlivespipe said...

Unfortunately, Martin was kinda more popular in ever OTHER province and territory... It's nice to see a little glimmer, but I think it's also a stretch. After all, he is a native Quebecker. The bounce he did get, then equally, is still disappointing.
Door knocking and delivering people to the polls, I was hearing how people still liked Martin.

Top Can said...

I think based on raw numbers it was better for Dion in 2008 than Martin in 2006. Of course, besides this victory outside the island of Montreal, the Grits went back to second place in a number of ridings outside the GMR such as Drummond, a riding in the Gaspe, and several whose names escape me at the moment. Not to mention, on the island we were really close to winning back Ahuntsic and Jeanne Le Ber.

Progressive Maritimer said...

Context is just a little bit important I think. The Quebec numbers can be explained first by the Sponsorship Scandal, and then by the collapse of the Conservative vote in Quebec due to Harper gaffes. Polls showed that once the Conservative vote began to fall apart, the Bloc and the Liberals benefited (soft-nationalists went Bloc and federalists went Liberal). The Liberals won 14 seats now in Quebec this election. Jean Chretien won 19 seats in 1993, 29 in 1997, and 36 in 2000 in Quebec. 14 is hardly a success; it is marginally less disastrous. In context, however, I would argue it's extremely disappointing as Martin managed to achieve similar results with the weight of Sponsorship around his neck while Dion needed major mistakes from Harper to accomplish a similar feat.

James Curran said...

Yes, but Dion will never be accused of destroying this party for a generation like Martin and his wrecking crew will be.